Virginia Gun Owners Forum - VGOF

I was popping 9mm primers yesterday to reload when, lo and behold my press wouldn't size the next case. At first I thought, oh crap its broken, but then I put another case in and it worked fine, so I looked at the malfesecent case and it was headstamped DAG 9mm Luger. I could tell that it was a reload and that the previous owner had put too much powder in it. so I was hoping that some of the very astute and omniscent hillbillys on this here forum thingy could tell me why doesnt the DAG brass fit into my Lee die?

First, I'm not omiscient nor a hillbilly. However, the DAG round is a
Dynamit Aktien Gessellschaft or german round. The flash holes in these are too small for the primer pin punch. You'd have to first use a small punch to knock out the primer and then ream the flash hole with a 5/64 drill bit so the next time you go to re prime it the primer punch would work. They are Berdan Primed, so the single flash holes are teeny-tiny. If it's just one round you might want to play with it a little so when and if you come across more you'll know exactly what to do. Hope this helps you.

You're pretty smart for a hillbilly

davasmith wrote:They are Berdan Primed, so the single flash holes are teeny-tiny.

Berdan primers don't have the anvil like boxers do. The brass is the anvil. There should be two smaller holes off-center rather than one larger hole in the center. A berdan primer won't work in boxer brass as there is no anvil to crush against. I guess you could create a flash hole for the decapper on berdan brass and reload using a boxer primer (your drill bit suggestion, but you may need other primer pocket mods), but I'm not sold on that being "100%" safe. Flash hole size and location do impact pressure. I'd suggest you just toss the brass.

Thx for all the info guys it solves part of the mystery.


Can Berdan primers have 1 hole? because my case has only one hole in it.


@gunderwood I am going to trash it, just wanted to find out about this.

jim100 wrote:Can Berdan primers have 1 hole? because my case has only one hole in it.

No, the center is needed for the anvil to be built into the cartridge case. If it has a single central hole it is boxer (I don't have any DAG brass, I was just responding to the berdan comment). There have been special brass with smaller flash holes made to prohibit reloading (make it more difficult) or for some special benchrest calibers.

How could you tell it had too much powder in it ?

People do convert Berdan brass to Boxer, by doing the boring out of the anvil mentioned above. It's typically done for calibers that simply aren't available in Boxer format, i.e. obsolete, early metallic cartridge loadings. Otherwise it's just not cost-effective.

jim100 wrote:Can Berdan primers have 1 hole? because my case has only one hole in it.

They can if they screwed up at the factory. It happens, even with the Germans. It'll still be off-center though.

Diomed wrote:People do convert Berdan brass to Boxer, by doing the boring out of the anvil mentioned above. It's typically done for calibers that simply aren't available in Boxer format, i.e. obsolete, early metallic cartridge loadings. Otherwise it's just not cost-effective.

This I understand and may possibly do with 7.5x55Swiss, not because it is terribly rare, but because I have hundreds of them. I haven't shot up the surplus yet, so I haven't bothered with it. However, I would not do the mod and then toss them in with boxers and just load away. The OP has one and ran across it only because it wouldn't decap properly. While possible (although I haven't done so myself), I would not recommend doing just one and then loading away like it was every other boxer case in the inventory.

Perhaps I'm just overly cautious, but I would work up a load just for those cases and keep them separate from any others.

Diomed wrote:

jim100 wrote:Can Berdan primers have 1 hole? because my case has only one hole in it.

They can if they screwed up at the factory. It happens, even with the Germans. It'll still be off-center though.

LOL. Yes, anything can be made wrong including putting the flash hole through the side of the case.

Vahunter wrote:How could you tell it had too much powder in it ?

Because their was powder marks on the outside of the primer and it looked like the primer had been pushed flat against the bolt face, like it was trying to blow out.

gunderwood wrote:

jim100 wrote:Can Berdan primers have 1 hole? because my case has only one hole in it.

No, the center is needed for the anvil to be built into the cartridge case. If it has a single central hole it is boxer (I don't have any DAG brass, I was just responding to the berdan comment). There have been special brass with smaller flash holes made to prohibit reloading (make it more difficult) or for some special benchrest calibers.

Well then this is a boxer primer, but this is not a benchrest caliber either its 9mm, so I guess it is a either a factory mess up or some special brass.

Diomed wrote:People do convert Berdan brass to Boxer, by doing the boring out of the anvil mentioned above. It's typically done for calibers that simply aren't available in Boxer format, i.e. obsolete, early metallic cartridge loadings. Otherwise it's just not cost-effective.

jim100 wrote:Can Berdan primers have 1 hole? because my case has only one hole in it.

They can if they screwed up at the factory. It happens, even with the Germans. It'll still be off-center though.

This is perfectly on the center of the case.

I don't think these cases are Berdan primed. They just have a single, centered but small flash hole that is too small for the standard pistol decapping pin to fit through.

Chasbo00 wrote:I don't think these cases are Berdan primed. They just have a single, centered but small centered flash hole that is too small for the standard pistol decapping pin to fit through.

I think you thesis is correct. Didn't know the made those.

Chasbo00 wrote:I don't think these cases are Berdan primed. They just have a single, centered but small flash hole that is too small for the standard pistol decapping pin to fit through.

+1

If possible I'd measure that hole and see how far out of spec it is. It still could be a factory error. Without having others (DAG) to compare too, its hard to say for sure.

Perhaps this issue is why this ammo (DAG, GECO = same, same) is on sale...

http://www.ammunitiontogo.com/product_i ... m-fmj-ammo

Also found this...

http://gunrightsmedia.net/showpost.php? ... ostcount=6

Chasbo00 wrote:Perhaps this issue is why this ammo (DAG, GECO = same, same) is on sale...

http://www.ammunitiontogo.com/product_i ... m-fmj-ammo

I bought some of this and gave it try at BRA yesterday. It's accurate and clean shooting - good stuff, but the following are considerations:

The primer: It's hard. One of my gaming guns with a light striker spring had a couple of light primer strikes resulting in a failure to fire. The ammo worked fine in my other 9mm pistols.

The brass case: Reloaders be warned that the flash hole on this Boxer primed ammo is smaller than normal. As reported by others, a standard 9mm pistol reloading die's decapping pin probably won't fit through. You will need a special decapping pin or will have to drill out the small flash hole -- probably not worth the effort.

The bullet: FMJ copper outside, but a magnet reveals there is steel in the core or beneath the copper. Some indoor ranges may prohibit using due to the presence of steel in the bullet.